I have been having a very frustrating experiencing working on a Premiere Elements 9 project. I kept on getting system memory low error messages with my original project so I cleaned out the supplementary audio and removed one video clip which was causing repeated problems and saved the whole project as 3 separate AVCHD videos (H.264 format 1920 X 1080i 25 fps). My idea was to use what I could save from my original project and bring that in to a new project. I was hopeful I could continue working on my project without the ongoing memory issues which sometimes would become more serious compiler errors etc that would cause the whole product to crash.

I cannot understand why I am encountering so much difficulty with my video projects. I have taken the step to reduce all my still jpeg images to a resolution of 1000X750, which I was informed would have been one of the main reasons for the problems I was having. I originally had issues on an older computer but I bought a new system which has a lot of grunt. It runs Windows 7 64 bit Intel i7-2600 CPU @3.40 GHz and has 8 GB memory. The C drive where the Premiere Elements software lives is a 128 GB solid state disk.

I am at a loss for why I am having so many issues with this software. I would really appreciate any hints and suggestions for how to get the software to work for me rather than against me.

Which project settings are you using? If your project settings are the best for your video you will not see red lines above the clips when you add them to your timeline until you add effects to them. Is this the case in your project?

And, when you do see red lines, do you press Enter to render your timeline? These two things alone should elminate your memory issues.

Although is that 128 gig solid state drive your C drive? If so, where are your project files and media located? 128 gigs can fill up and/or defragment pretty fast, and that can also cause performance problems!

You may also want to download and test drive version 10. It's performance is a huge step up from versions 8 and 9!

Along with Steve's comments, you might want to take a look at this ARTICLE, and especially some of the links on memory/resources. Memory and resources can mean different things, besides just installed RAM.

I have just come back from a trip and it's back to the Premiere Elements drawing board. No surprise - I am getting memory issues with my new project barely under way.

With reference to your remark Steve that if my project settings are the best for my video I will not see red lines above the clips when first adding them to my timeline I can report that there are red lines. I am not rendering yet - the project is not developed enough to bother rendering. How can I tweak my settings to deal with this problem?

I have had these issues since I started working with version 9 - surely I should be able to use this product without having to upgrade it!

I suspect that the problem may be due to the codecs required to deal with the output from my oldish Casio camera.

I would really like to get to the bottom of this once and for all. I have recently purchased a new Canon S100 and I expect that might solve these problems, but in the meantime I have all that Casio footage to deal with.

If you see red lines as soon as you bring your clips to PRE then you have NOT selected the correct project setting. Analyse your clip(s) with GSpot or MediaInfo and post the screenshots here. Also have you worked through the advice in PrE Hanging, or Crashing - Some Tips (especially those about driver updates as drivers on new machines are usually woefully out of date).

Furthermore, I have rendered the full project and when I reopen it with Premiere Elements it is no longer showing up as fully rendered. The images are all OK but not the AVIs. That is, one of the AVI clips is showing green but the others are showing red, even though all the AVI clips have been recorded in the same way.

I can see that my video project settings are not correct, but I understand that I cannot really change them once a project has been created. So how do I get my project back on track? Do I need to create a new project and start all over again? And if I do that what settings should I be using?

I tried setting up another project, this time using preset PAL DV Standard 48 Khz

That has video frame size 720 X 576 but my video is actually 640 X 480. Seems to me that I would want to use a project preset that precisely matches my video settings but the PAL DV one is the closest I can find.

I render it, save the project, reopen the project and green is now red.

Ideally, one would want a Project Preset, that matches the Source Footage, but there is none for a Frame Size of 640 x 480, which is probably PAR = 1.0, or square pixels. If you are in PAL-land, then the PAL DV Preset is probably as close as you can get, with either Standard 4:3, or Widescreen 16:9. With the square pixel material, you will likely need to Scale up slightly, and this can be done with Scale to Default Frame Size checked.

Now, regarding your Scratch Disk location, plus that of your Projects and your media, do you ONLY have the C:\ internal HDD?

With memory/resources, there is more to that, than just the installed RAM, such as Windows Virtual Memory (Page File). Regarding that, I have some questions:

Well, 32GB is not a lot, and especially with a dynamically managed Page File. The normal rec. is 20 - 40GB, but I use a slightly higher figure of 40 - 60GB.

With the Page File, and the Scratch Disks (containing most of the PrE "working files"), it can be amazing how much space is used up, and how quickly.

For video editing, I like to set the Page File to be statically managed, so that it is created at bootup, and that also saves CPU cycles, as Windows does not have to spend time guessing what the size should be, on the fly. When I build a new system, one of the first things that I do, before even adding programs, other than the OS, is to set the Page File to be static and about 2.5x the installed RAM (this would be overkill with a 64-bit OS and 12 - 24GB of RAM). I test the locations, but usually find that locating the Page File on a separate HDD is best. When one does this early on, the Page File will be created, on say D:\, or E:\, at the outer edge of the platter(s), and in the same spot every time I boot up. This also keeps the Page File from fragmenting, as it is exactly the same each time, and in a location, that is as fast to access, as is possible. Part of that probably comes from my old "engineering background," as I like things to be as efficient, as is possible, and with a "safety factor."

Also, as an HDD gets to about 70% of capacity, the performance will decrease. As it fills above, the performance will decrease exponentially, and near capacity, the chances of catostrophic failure increases.

The ssd does not need defragmenting. It could harm the ssd. Would you like to go to the ssd manufacturers site and confirm this. The ssd might also need restoring look for the how to on the manufacturers site. You dont have that much room left on your ssd. I would get a second one, even only a 60G and a HDD for storage.

Having to re-Render is often cause by having the Media Cache/Render Files on a networked, or external HDD, but from the info, I rather doubt that is the problem here. Just to get those causes behind us, are there any networked, or external HDD's in the process?

I still think that it is the room left on your 120G ssd. Have you got a HDD that you could try and use as a scratch disk, put the page file on it too. It would be a lot slower, but if the memory problems stop, you would know what it was. Some of the problems could be solved by an upgrade.

Amazon has a good price for Premiere Elements and they have on occasion a price for a Crucial 60G below $100.

I reported the issues I was constantly experiencing to Adobe support. I went through a lengthy time consuming process via support calls to explain what exactly was going wrong with the product. The issue was supposedly escalated to level 2 support. Adobe eventually called me back to say this is a 'known' issue with version 9 and I should upgrade to version 10. I have lost months of my time trying to get this damn product to work and at the end of the day it could not handle the video footage that my camera produced - it was never fit for purpose. I contend that in the circumstances I should qualify for a free upgrade but the cheapskates who work in the customer relations department were only willing to offer me a 20% discount. Pretty disgraceful in my opinion.

Please don't get me wrong. All the help I have had here on the forum has been absolutely fantastic and I thank you for it.

I did contact Adobe. After hours of waiting to reach a support person on a number of occasions they finally acknowledged that my issue was a known problem with version 9.

The simple fact of the matter is that my problems were not resolvable. For Adobe to have sold me a product that had a fundamental flaw that made it unworkable and to not be prepared to offer me a free upgrade to the next version is a sad indictment of their business philosophy.

Steve, I would not have taken that Evertech was angry at you. I would have been browned off at Adobe.

They have wasted our time including yours, Bill's. well all ours.

If that was a known issue, why did it give the memory out error message? It should have given an appropriate error message. He did contact Adobe and finally found out, they could not help him. I think he deserves a freebee. Is Adobe so afraid that there might be an avalanche of "known problems" and people wanting an upgrade for nix?

LWilkins, I live in Australia and wanted to by from Amazon, but it would not sell to me, something about the manufacturer not wanting them to. For Photoshop and Premiere Elements I pay here Aus$180 or so, from Amazon less then a US$100. I dont think it is fair, but that is what it is.

I thought I made it clear that I did have the displeasure of dealing with Adobe support. No grace from them is the reason I have been venting my spleen. I think we should know what a stingy mob Adobe is.

It takes a few calls sometimes to come accross a person of knowledge. I am talking about Adobe support. That is my experience with any company.

I am using an old version of Premiere and I am looking to upgrade. What I will do is use the trial. It seems fully functional and that is a good way of finding out before I buy. At least if it does not work I won't need to buy. If it doesn't do what I want I will be dissapointed, because I have got used to Adobe.

I decided after all to stick with Premiere Elements mainly because I have invested so much time and effort with it. Fortunately I was able to buy the product from a seller in the US. Adobe offered me a 20% discount off full price which was a total insult. Vendors in Australia have their products marked up much higher than in the US.

In any case I am reopening my project and still many of the video clips come up unrendered when I reopen the project in Premiere Elements 10 after having rendered them. I thought the problem had been addressed with version 10 but it seems not.

Not recommended to open an older version project in new PRE version. You should either complete the project in the older version or Share a video file (DV or HDV for preference) from the older version. Then you can import that clip into your PRE10.